An Innocent Game
by Tempest Angelus
Summary: Before he was adopted by Ghetsis and before he was left in the woods, N enjoyed playing simple games with other children. This is not a truly lighthearted tale. This is the story of a child left behind.


Young children all with bright smiles played games with a carefree nature alongside a few mild tempered pokemon. There were five children, all close in age, laughing and enjoying the company of the energetic creatures. The children had eyes that lit up with astonishment and adoration for their pokemon playmates.

It was a typical scene in the small, quiet village. The town did not frequently receive visitors, its location not even written upon most maps. Thick, deep woods surrounded the tiny town and it was not easy to navigate through the dense forest. The villagers lived a quiet, humble life.

It was just another typical, warm, summer day.

"This Pidove likes _me_ the most!" one of the children bragged, an outspoken boy with deep charcoal eyes.

The Pidove gave a soft coo as the unruly child scooped her into his arms.

"She says she cares for us all the same" a soft-spoken boy replied, his words a bit rushed.

The children all stared at him with quizzical expressions upon their faces. The boy with the Pokemon in his arms had an embarrassed flush on his face and an aggravated glint to his eyes.

"Oh, how would you know? Pidove just goes _coo-coo!_ It doesn't speak" the dark eyed boy disputed, imitating the call of the bird pokemon flamboyantly.

"Their voices are different from our speech, but they do speak with words" the green haired child asserted.

The outspoken boy was the first to laugh. Following his lead, the other three children soon began to laugh as well.

"You're too weird" the boy declared, a victorious look in his dark eyes.

The boy set down the Pidove and began to walk away. The other children needed no signal to know that they were to follow. Without glancing back, the children left to play elsewhere.

"Why doesn't he understand your voice?" the green haired child asked the Pidove as he sat alone with the few pokemon.

The bird pokemon gave a sympathetic coo as she sat upon the boy's lap.

* * *

Another day came with the blessing of clear weather. It was a marvelous treat after the rainy day before. The children all left their houses to enjoy the opportunity of playing outdoors. A few Pidoves along with a small Patrat joined the children promptly.

"Hey, look, here comes the weirdo!" the boy with charcoal eyes exclaimed as the green haired boy approached the group.

One of the two girls in the group spared a sympathetic look as the green haired boy stopped approaching.

"I'm just messin'! Come on over here" the boy invited with a laugh, gesturing for the other to continue his approach.

The green haired child joined the other four kids, an expression of unease still present in his body language.

"I came up for a brand new game for us to play!" the dark eyed boy announced, "This game is gonna prove once and for all if you're a fibber."

The children snickered at this, all except for the boy being targeted and the girl with sympathetic azure eyes.

"Each of these pokemon will choose one of our toys while you're not looking. No peeking! Kenji will make sure you don't! Then you're going to ask the pokemon which toys they chose! If you get it right, we'll have to believe you. But if you're wrong..." the boy explained, adding in a sing-song tone, "you're a liar, liar, pants on fire!"

This prompted a giggle from the other girl of the group, her jade eyes closing with her grin.

"So, we got a deal?" the boy asked.

The green haired child nodded in agreement, seeing little harm in the doubt of the other children. He knew that pokemon were not likely to lie, so he felt a flow of confidence that he could win this game.

Kenji and the green haired child walk a small distance away so that a house was between them and the others so the game could begin.

"You should just admit that you lied. Taisho won't let it go so easily. You hurt his feelings" Kenji explained, a boy with dark blonde hair and bark colored eyes.

He was speaking of the assertive boy with charcoal eyes who was told that his favored pokemon did not favor him.

"I'm not lying though" replied the green haired child with a swift and calm voice, "Are you also unable to hear the voices of pokemon?"

Kenji gave him a bewildered look, feeling uncomfortable with the implication that _he_ was the abnormal one.

"Okay! Okay! We are all set!" the dark eyed boy called out in a drawn out tone.

The two boys approached the group and all were silent as the pokemon lined up in front of the green haired boy.

"Can each of you tell me the toy you chose, please?" the boy asked the creatures.

One by one, each pokemon gave a short chatter of sounds. Each time, the green haired boy would nod before looking to the next one for a response. The children all waited in great anticipation.

"Alright, alright, give us the answer!" Taisho demanded impatiently.

The boy with green hair nodded in compliance. As he spoke, he gestured to each pokemon individually to indicate which one he was referring to.

"The blue building block, the toy train, the large red ball, the doll, the small yellow ball."

The girls both gasped and Taisho's confident smirk disappeared from his face immediately.

"What about that Pidove there?!" Taisho exclaimed, pointing towards the one bird pokemon who was slightly brighter in color compared to the rest, "What did that one pick? You skipped it!"

"That's because he chose to pick his toy last. There wasn't a toy left for him to choose. You were short one toy" the green haired boy explained calmly.

"He can't be right. He got it right?" Kenji questioned, staring at Taisho's shocked expression.

The boy with charcoal eyes was at a loss for words. He had expected that leaving one pokemon without a toy to choose would ensure that he would win this game. It was his trump card. He was certain that he could prove that the green haired child was a liar.

"A-again! We're playing it again!" Taisho declared.

Two more times the game was played. The second round, another toy was added so that all the pokemon could make a choice. The third time, all new toys were gathered with an excess of two. Each round of the game that they played, the green haired boy identified the correct answers. Not only did he match each toy to the proper pokemon, he also identified the two additional toys.

"How do you know that?!" Taisho demanded.

"Patrat told me that there were extras" was the green haired boy's calm, swift reply.

Taisho's dark eyes looked fearful. He felt as though the slightly smaller green haired child had made a fool of him. Now, he was not only upset about what was said of his favored Pidove, Taisho's pride had been injured as well.

"You're a freak!" he avowed, "You were always a weirdo, but you're really just a freak!"

The dark eyes boy rushed away, followed closely by the others. The girl with jade eyes screamed in mock terror as she ran. It was the girl with soft azure eyes who lingered behind.

"He's going to tell his dad" she explained in a voice so soft and delicate, "I think you should have just kept quiet."

The girl walked away at a brisk pace, wanting to catch up to the others. She left the odd boy to be alone in the company of pokemon yet again.

* * *

Truly, he did not understand.

A selection of adults were all gathered together that night. There seemed to be a feeling of uneasiness hovering over the room. Fear, anger, confusion and suspicion were all expressed by voices loud and soft alike. It was a rather chaotic scene.

The unusual green haired child had been listening quietly until he was told gently to wait outside. He sat on the stairs just outside of the house's entrance and drew shapes in the ground with a stick.

A Lilipup approached him, barking softly at the boy.

"I think I did something bad. The adults all seem angry" the boy explained, answering the pokemon's apparent question.

Another few yaps and the boy gave a small smile.

"I'm not sure what I did. I told my friends that I could understand pokemon. All humans can though, right? They must not be able to yet, that's all. Maybe I leaned it quicker, like how some babies walk sooner than others. They'll be able to do eventually though, and I'm sure the adults all know that. Maybe they're upset that I could do it first?"

The Lilipup licked the boy's face before racing in circles in front of him, barking eagerly. The odd child gave a large grin as he accepted the invitation to play a game of tag. The two chased each other back and forth, speaking with one another during the game in playful disputes about who was 'it'.

They played, blissfully unaware of the apprehensive, watchful gazes observing them from the window of a room where the disputes weren't so lighthearted.

The time seemed to go by more quickly for the boy was he enjoyed playing with a companion. Soon, the adults all began to walk out of the house. There was an eerie silence cast over the group, quickly hushing the boy's laughter. The Lilipup sulked away, frightened by the apprehensive adults. The boy couldn't decipher the expressions that each adult who dared to look at him had. Most adverted their gaze as though the boy were invisible. His mother took his hand gingerly and with his father, the family walked back to their house in silence.

"Is it really true, dear," the mother finally asked as they entered their house and shut the door, "do you really communicate with pokemon?"

"Of course," the boy replied, restraining himself from expressing his answer with enthusiasm, "their words may be different, but they're still just as clear. You hear it too, right?"

The mother gave an exhausted sigh while the father shook his head in utter disbelief.

"Madness," he muttered, "simply madness."

The young boy interpreted this to mean that he'd angered his father, knowing no other definition to the word 'mad'. He went to bed that night not understanding what he had ever done wrong.

* * *

It was early one morning, not too long after the adults had held their meeting. The children all stayed away from the odd boy and the adults would always give him that same look which he couldn't quite define. The only companions willing to play with him still were the pokemon that would frequent the town.

This is the reason that the boy felt so excited when his father awoke him, wanting to play a game.

The sun had not yet began to rise as the father and son went out into the woods. The ventured deeper than the boy had ever been and it felt like they walked on forever.

"Alright, buddy, here we are!" the father informed as they approached a fairly large tree stump, "Your friends are all hiding already, so they have a head start. You better find a really great hiding place!"

"I don't want to get lost though," the green haired boy said softly, "it's scary..."

The odd child thought of the legends told by adults of the terrifying creatures that lingered within the woods. He thought of the stories shared during the few times that the children would all meet at night and they played a game to determine who could tell the scariest tale. He certainly didn't want to be so far into the woods alone.

The father gave a short laugh that somehow didn't sound right to the green haired boy.

"Don't be so silly! Your friends are already out there!" the father said, his voice condescending, "Now I'll give you sixty seconds. One... Two..."

As the father covered his eyes and began counting, the young boy smiled. If his friends were already there, he would be alright. The sun had finally began to rise, slightly illuminating the woods.

The green haired boy ventured out of his father's sight to find a great hiding place. Hide and Seek was one of his favorite games. He waited for someone to find him in his hiding place with excited anticipation.

Patiently, the boy waited.

A tiny little Joltik scurried up to the boy, jittery and silent.

"Oh, hello there," the boy greeted in a hushed whisper, "is this your home?"

He pointed up towards a small tree hollow located well above his head in his crouched position.

Without a sound, the Joltik scurried up the tree as though fearful of the boy. The child had never encountered a pokemon before who wouldn't have a friendly conversation with him. The deep woods was clearly home to a different breed of pokemon personalities.

With a sigh, the boy waited.

The sun had risen higher into the sky and now fully illuminated the surrounding woods. The boy stood, making shifting noises with the leaves at his feet. He'd give an occasional forced cough of fake a sneeze, trying to give away his location subtly. He listened closely for footsteps of anyone approaching.

Still, the boy waited.

Faintly, the child's stomach began to growl. He hadn't been given the chance to have any breakfast. He wasn't entirely sure how long he had been waiting now, but he began to consider if he should venture out to look for the others. He certainly was feeling hungry though, and the temptation to venture out for the sake of his stomach alone seemed quite tempting. This was the first game he was given the chance to play with the other children in days, however, and he wasn't eager to ruin this chance.

For just a bit longer, he would wait.

Gradually, he began to venture away from his hiding place. He started calling out to his father and to his friends. They must have been worrying about him by now. They were likely searching for him rather desperately. He would find someone though, he told himself, and they could all laugh about it later. They could all laugh together.

Time went on, causing the boy to fret.

What if they had all went back into town, assuming he was already there? They would come back to look for him after realizing his absence, but how long would that take? The boy's appetite only continued to grow and he wanted desperately to be back at home.

Hours and hours and hours went by...  
Would the blissfully naive child realize that he'd been left behind?

As the sun began to set, the boy succumbed to tears. He was so hungry and he was so exhausted... Where had everyone gone? The boy tried to find his way back on his own, but it had been so dark when they had come into the woods. He hadn't been able to distinguish any path or landmarks to use as a guide. He was frightened and the air was turning to have a distinct chill. The nights were not quite so warm as the summer days.

The young boy curled up, sleep claiming him as he wept.

* * *

In time, the boy would find pokemon who were willing to speak with him. A compassionate Darmanitan, a mischievous Zorua, they would teach him all he needed to know and become his family. They would play many games together and live comfortably in the forest.

A blissful existence would be experienced in those woods until the day that a man would appear, molding the boy's world and changing his life forever.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Been quite a while since I've seriously written a fanfiction. xD

Anyway...

The reason that I wrote N as a 'nameless child' is because I don't believe that he would have been called "N" by his biological parents (since his name is given to him by Ghetsis, I'm pretty sure). So, I simply decided not to choose a name for young child N.

I hope you enjoyed~!


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